Annette Griffus: NM's 'General' Leaves a Legacy of Hard Work, Success

Paula Grande is 308-69 in 14 years as softball coach at North Mason. She will guide the Bulldogs into the Class 2A West Central District tournament on Saturday for the final time. She is retiring at the end of the season.
(Meegan M. Reid | Kitsap Sun)

Like the ever-present spring rains, Paula Grande has been a staple of the spring softball season at North Mason for 14 years.

So when North Mason’s venerable coach said she was thinking about leaving the Bulldogs at the end of the year, I was a bit surprised.

And then I started to think about why.

Between time away from her family — husband Jack and their two children, Madison, 9, and Jackson, 7, and a full-time job teaching kindergarten — coaching has been forced into the backseat.

“We’ve gotten to a point where there’s nights where I don’t see the kids,” she said. “I don’t see homework for two weeks.

“I want to be a part of that stuff.”

You have to understand what Grande has meant to NM softball.

This is a program that Grande built into a state-title contender by sheer will and determination. The Bulldogs have been to state 10 straight years. They have been the league powerhouse — no matter which league or classification they were in.